Sony has just confirmed that now that the Kickstarter goal has been reached they are in fact helping with funding and development of Shenmue 3

[DerNebel]

It was said during their twitch stream at 57:10 min

http://www.twitch.tv/playstation/v/6249998

Like a lot of people thought, Sony was using Kickstarter to gauge interest for the game and are now, that it has been proven to exist, helping making the game a reality.